cruise_loverinlaval

On 6/1/2024 at 10:50 AM, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Agreed.

 

This is to entice Royal and X passengers who are already interested in premium small lines to stay in the RCG family.

 

The only VS 250 benefits that I care about are the free laundry and the 10% discount on future cruises. 

Here is my point of view on SS pricing.  Recently, SS increased their cruise prices a lot.  They introduced a new category called Essential pricing, which is PtoP without excursions.  This new category is the best price, a PtoP with a reduction of 10% will not give you a better price. And from what I read on these blogs about the quality of included excursions, I will book mine independently.

12 hours ago, Roland4 said:

And at the risk of having this post "bounced" to the River Cruise thread, I watched a webinar for Riverside Holidays earlier this week. They purchased all five of the Old Crystal ships, and while they are only operating the Mozart and Debussy now, they plan to bring all five back under their brand in the next three years. For those who sailed Crystal River, they have changed nothing, and I mean that in a good way!!

Hello, please note that Uniworld is operating 2 of those 5 ships for a couple of years. Uniworld renamed them S.S. Victoria and S.S. Elizabeth.  If you want to enjoy it this summer the S.S. Victoria is cruising the Rhine and the Mozelle.  Enjoy it!

https://www.uniworld.com/ca/ships/ss-victoria

https://www.uniworld.com/ca/ships/ss-elisabeth

5 hours ago, Galan32 said:

Called Crystal about the Exceptional initiative today.

They confirmed that we would receive one of 5 credits towards our up coming cruise in May.

I am wondering if this an internal mixup on their part in that we received a credit from them already.  However if valid it will pay for our excursions. 

Hello, do you mean that you receive 2 of your 5 credits towards the same cruise?

1 hour ago, Cancun01 said:

Have the rules to the Exceptional Initiative changed.  I am not sure if I was asleep at the switch or if I received today’s email in error.

 

We applied 1 of the 5 sub-credits on/before October 1, 2023 and sailed in December 2023.   We received the max $2225 from the administrator in early November 2023 for the impacted voyage.  I didn’t book anything else using one of the remaining 4 sub-credits because it was my understanding that once monies were received from the administrator that the remaining unused sub-credits were considered to be null/void. 

A short while ago, I received an email from Crystal that stated as a “friendly reminder” we needed to use  our remaining exceptional initiative sub-credits for a voyage that takes place before Dec 31, 2025. 
 

I looked on the website and it doesn’t appear that the rules have changed but I thought I would double check with the “experts” on this board!

Hello, I see it as a very nice recognition of OC passengers.  New Crystal wants you back!  

9 hours ago, vistaman said:

are they still doing a "Champagne lunch" ?  many thanks already 

Hello, my experiences on Crystal (9 cruises so far) are that I can have champagne with every lunch! … breakfast…and dinner!  Enjoy!

35 minutes ago, Roland4 said:

It's me Patty!!!!!😮

 

I am still learning how to use my iPhone and the pictures saved in an HEIC format. Had to figure out how to change them to jpeg. I tried replacing them, but now I am getting download errors. Turkey is partially blocking Starlink, they are still "evaluating it", and I think that may be the problem. Since I have passed the allowed time to edit, I will try reposting the pictures either later this evening or tomorrow.

 

I did discover that if you download the individual HEIC files, you can then open the pictures, or at least I could on my Surface tablet.

Hello, let me help you post your pictures.  I was able to load them on my iPad.

17 hours ago, Joanzzzz said:

I have had a

I have had a similar experience that I just noticed today.  I had booked one excursion for us and it was greyed out, the price with a line through, and also showed 0.  We noticed another time frame  that had not been there before and decided to book it instead, but knew we had to delete the first one so we would only be using the previously "one per day"  excursion allotment.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a screen shot before I deleted the first booking, and when we rebooked for the same excursion, two minutes later, it was not allotted as 0, but charged.  WHY???   It is the exact same excursion, just running at a later time.  After reading your post, and because this happened to us, out of curiosity, I went to recheck other bookings we had made that had been greyed out, and the price with a black line through it, which had previously shown 0 charge.  One excursion, since moved to Select, still was the exact same, but we got a surprise at the next one we checked.   Although it says clearly each booking per person is 0, the total now says much different.  Someone or something can't count that two 0's don't add up to 338.  I've written to Guest Services, with screen shots,  and expect an answer to why this is happening.  I'm just glad we found it before we sailed and had to try and sort it out on board.  

 

The prices for Silversea cruises are higher than average because they do include excursions, and when we booked them initially they were all included in the price.  We have on board credit we could use to cover some of the now two excursions we are being charged for that we were not before, but that's not the point.  Some folks may not notice this change till they get on board and not have the credit.  Frankly, I'm hoping this is a mistake or a software error, and not a new way of gathering more money, because if so, it's rather unfair.  If we have to pay,  we will cancel the excursion being charged and go ashore for cheaper, but it  would be a red flag to booking a future cruise with Silversea that's for sure.  If it's 0 per person, it's 0 total when I add it up.   Let's just hope we get a reasonable answer to why this happened.  

Hello, I am guessing but I will try an answer for you.  Hopefully, SS will come back with the right answer.  SS announced a new option to buy a cruise - the Essential price which does not include excursions.  But if   you choose that option and you want to select an excursion included in P2P, you will be charged.  When you go online and you want to select your excursion, the system has to figure out if you are a P2P customer or an Essential price customer.  The implementation of that feature might not be all tested yet!

Good morning, the Symphony is not the only cruise ship thru the Red Sea and the Canal Suez.  Here is the Ponant Le Champlain about to enter the canal!

20 minutes ago, MsCrystalina said:

HI all,

Cruising in December on Dawn disembarking in Tokyo.  Not doing D2D.   No hotels currently listed on site.  Any suggestions for a nice, centrally located hotel in Tokyo.   Will be arranging sightseeing for 2 days +-=    Prefer large, newer properties- Marriott, Hyatt etc OK.  Top tier luxury not an option.

thanks 

Hi, in April 2019, we were at ANA InterContinental Hotel Tokyo, very nice location, excellent buffet breakfast to start the day and shuttle to go to the airport.  Highly recommended to reserve a local guide to explore the most of the city during your stay.  Enjoy Tokyo!

44 minutes ago, Crystal Guest Relations said:

We can confirm there was no gunshots heard and we are working with authorities to rectify this statement. We can further confirm that Crystal Symphony safely and successfully completed a transit of the Red Sea as part of a repositioning voyage. The ship was escorted by the U.S. Navy as a standard precautionary measure while traveling through the high risk area. Crystal Symphony is en route to Cyprus to resume sailing with guests on April 6. Thank you, Crystal Communications

Thank you to give us the latest update on this voyage.  We are looking forward to cruise on the Symphony next October.

2 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

I was thrilled to read about a themed Crystal Cruise for next year with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on board. I bet that will be a sell out.

 

Keith

Hello Keith, do you know the date of that cruise?  I am very interested to book!

5 minutes ago, FengShui@Sea said:

Yesterday we were notified (via our TA) that our November 11, 2025 Lisbon to Barbados sailing on the Spirit had been moved to November 25, 2025 with the exact same itinerary.  We didn't like the new departure date so opted for the 10% discount if we rebooked by the end of May 2024.  

 

Hello, now on Silversea website, the cruise scheduled for the Silver Spirit on Nov 11 to Nov 24, 2025 is Lisbon to Bridgetown, then Nov 24, 2025 to Dec 1, 2025 it is Bridgetown to Bridgetown. Strange!

Hello, all cruises from April 27, 2025 until Dec. 8, 2025 are in waitlist status on Silversea website. And cruises from Dec 8, 2025 until April 5, 2026 are still available and listed on Silversea website.  Will a new ship take care of these cruises?

Here are my suggestions to help you select your voyage.

First, 7 days cruise is quite short, you should go for 9-10-12 days cruise.

Second, Islands visited should influence your choice.  If you have never been to St-Bart, you should include it.

Third, I would select the less expensive one to try / experiment a new cruise line.

enjoy cruising!

Be quiet! All passengers on Crystal Serenity are sleeping! They will enjoy a day in Sydney and maybe an evening at the opera!

Here is the Crystal Serenity entering the Sydney harbour!

Picture taken from the webcam of Sydney harbour.

Here is the Crystal Serenity entering in the Sydney harbour!

Picture taken live from the webcam harbour.

6 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Agree, it's a good deal.

 

But prices for this area have usually been less than Europe. We sailed on Silversea in Dec.2022 a very similar itinerary for $5,500 CAD for 12 nights. And SS includes excursions, plus their cabins are 305 sqft while Crystal is 215. To get a comparable size cabin on Crystal the price will jump to $9,570 CAD even when applying the 12 % discount. 

FYI, if I was to apply the 20% discount from Crystal + the 3% of my credit card, the price of the cruise would be $ C6130.  Not bad since the cruise is end of 2025 vs Dec 2022.

I was told by a very strong source that SS Canadian prices give some advantages to Canadian passengers since SS uses a better exchange rate.

On 2/29/2024 at 6:02 PM, commodoredave said:

Please send me all the Crystal bargains you find. I’ve been looking for over a year to find a nicely priced cruise with them but no success so far. I’m willing to book far in advance or short notice. Thanks.

Hello, I am looking at a 12 nights cruise on Crystal Symphony, Dubai to Dubai, Dec 21, 2025 to Jan 2, 2026. If you use the promotion offered today - reserve 12 months in advance and get 20%, than the price per night is $380 USD per person per night.  Quite a deal to get the quality of Crystal.

There is another factor which affects the Canadianpassengers is the exchange rate used by Crystal.  The cruise Dubai to Dubai is $5700 USD which is $ C7704 using today exchange rate. But on the Crystal Canadian website the price is showed as $ C7950.  Crystal does not use the daily current exchange rate to publicize on its website.  For me since I have a credit card that gives me 3% Boni Dollar on my travel transactions, My cost will be $ C7711, which is similar to pay in US dollar using a US$ Credit card.

20 minutes ago, cruise_loverinlaval said:

I agree with all the previous comments.  Excellent hôtel! We stayed there in our Uniworld land tour of China. If you book there, you will not make a mistake. Enjoy!

Plus, if you have time, do not miss the High Tea at the Peninsula hotel!

I agree with all the previous comments.  Excellent hôtel! We stayed there in our Uniworld land tour of China. If you book there, you will not make a mistake. Enjoy!

On 2/27/2024 at 2:47 PM, Stickman1990 said:

I have a feeling mailings are staggered as I haven’t received the message above yet - but I’ll post when/if I do so we can gauge the spread of timing for reception of the same emails 

We receive emails. Our last one was on Feb. 8, 2024. The subject was: Book Early and Get 20% Off 2025 Crystal Voyages.

15 hours ago, Txcotn said:

Lovely pictures! We met Benjamin on our first Symphony cruise in 1999! We went to the pool and he offered us refreshment, we asked for water, and he returned and used our names.

To this day I don't know how he knew our names! He is the best!

My husband and I totally agree with you.  Benjamin is the best representation of Crystal services.  He definitively recognized us when we cruised on the Serenity in October 2023.  We were back with Crystal after the 3 years ‘no travel’ during the pandemic period.  He represents what Crystal is all about, he is part of the family!

59 minutes ago, suzannecruisecritic said:

That is great to hear. Thank you 

Hello, we had free lessons with Joe Herbert when we were on our first Crystal cruise in September 2013.  We were on Crystal Symphony.  We did improve our golf score.  Our friends did not want to bet with us anymore.  Enjoy your cruise! The only thing you will regret is 7 days is too short, it will be difficult to disembark.  You might want to book your next Crystal cruise when you are onboard!

Enjoy 14 days in beautiful Alaska scenery!